Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1887-05-28

sacred, or die.
Another column of the daily paper
tells us that German EDITORS news
paper was suppressed because there
might have been a hidden meaning
behind an exclamation mark that
by mistake was placed after some
Prussian officials name. Still the
same column describes the laws
enacted to force the poor subjects of
the Alsacian and Lorraine provinces
to conform to German demands,
when there is as much difference
between one people and the other
as there is between day and night.
Such injustices would never be
tolerated,-they would not be exact
ed,-by the American people.
Another dispatch conveys the
news of the preparations for the
Queens Jubilee, and the Odes com
posed by the poet laureates. The
Queen will distribute many thousand
china mugs to the children of the
kingdom, as remembrances of the
great event. A loaf of bread would
be luxury to thousands of poor
children in London, to whom royal
souvenir is of no more value than
mud. ball-to play with.
Queen Victoria personally is a
very estimable woman, and her reign
has been long and unusually pros.
porous one. Royalty, however,
under her has not been able to hold
its own, and the popular voice has
scored many republican victories.
In general terms her reign can be
praised, but it will be found wanting
in Justice to the masses of the peo
pie when inquired into in every
particular. The arts and sciences,
business and trade, have fourished,
but her government has been con-
fronted with questions concerning
the peace and welfare of parts OF her
kingdom which it has failed to solve.
Compare the progress made in Eng.
land from the time of the Georges
to the present, with the achieve
ments OF America in the same
period? A dense forest has been
cleared and peopled, independence
gained, cities built, trade and manu-
facture established, social problems
solved, and such Roadway made in
the arts and sciences as the world
has never before witnessed. The
perfection of American freedom and
liberty has fired the world with the
same desire, and the strong powers
of Europe cannot hold much longer
in check the struggle for more popu-
lar selfgovernment. Examine close
ly into the true condition of Great
Britain, and little will be found of
permanent improvement. For GEN.
taries force has been employed in
subduing Ireland, and after cenfis.
eating the land, running her manu-
featuring industries by arbitrary
laws, driving half of the population
into exile as paupers, Ireland is the
most destitute country under all the
bright sun of civilization. England
herself has more poverty to the
square inch than any other known
country. Canada is torn with inter
nal dissentlons and dissatisfactions,
and her half.breed subjects are shot
and hung for demanding the rights
in the land that have descended to
them for centuries. Scotland, the
twin child Of royalism, fares but
little better than Ireland in it's atti-
tude towards the mother country.
The poor Crofters in the maintain
ance of their hereditary rights are
menaced by English bayonets year
after year. India, the present source
of England's wealth, is a famished
country in the midst of plenty
British money.lenders have tighten.
ed their grasp on everything. The
poor natives, so skilled in the manu-.
facture of fine goods, and in the cul
tivation of the soil, are glad to get a
cupful of rice to keep alive the little
life that's in them. The only per-
sons IN the three kingdoms that live
on the fat of the land, are the rich
landlords, the titled nobility of the
realm, the crown officials, and the
wealth and fashion of the courts.
In America the poorest enjoy all
the blessings of the republic, and
labor and economy dispense their
rewards alike. Wealth and fashion
are honored and respected inasmuch
as they honor and respect them
selves and others, according to their
merits. The masses of our people
are honest and independent, intelli-
gent and sound-thinking, and de-
spise anything that is above the
simple level of their common coun.
try.
In many of our school exercises,
and in nearly every public speech
that we bear, the name of Napoleon